www.nitroplanes.com – The new Sonic 185 is 100% Ready to Fly (RTF) and powered by a 200 Watt Brushless motor with folding propellers. This work of art is designed for easy transportation and superior performance. The designs are beautiful and easy to spot. Its made of crash resistant flexible foam so that you can fly longer without having to worry. It even comes with a free flight simulator so that you can practice on your computer before taking off with the real thing. This plane is no joke when its in the air.
A paraglider takes a ride at the Torrey Pines Gliderport. The historic Torrey Pines Gliderport has been listed as a National Soaring Landmark by the National Soaring Museum, a San Diego City Historical Site, and is listed on the California Register and National Registers of Historic Places. It is the only gliderport adjacent to west coast of America that supports four different forms of motorless aviation; hang gliders, paragliders, radio-controlled model sailplanes and full-scale sailplanes. The cliffs along Torrey Pines have been used for soaring since at least 1930 and many famous aviators have earned their wings training at the gliderport. During World War II, the gliderport was used as part of Camp Callan for the training of US Army cadets. After the war, sailplanes returned and have flown continuously at the location since 1946. Several national and international soaring records have been set at the site over the years. For more photos and video of the Torrey Pines Gliderport visit www.socalbeachmag.net
Update: Now available via play.google.com Note: More recent version of the sim is here: youtu.be This is the current status of my flight simulator, running on my HTC Desire (Android 2.2). There’s still some way to go, but many of the pieces are there. Here the glider is flying using lift from the slope, controlled using a “virtual joystick” occupying the bottom half of the screen. Sorry the finger gets in the way! You can also use the accelerometer for control (but when I tried to demo that I failed due to the awkwardness of holding the phone in front of the camera!). The aerodynamics are mostly there – there’s a few aspects missing, and I have plans for making the wind/air flow more realistic. It’s based on my Slope Soaring Simulator code, but should end up even more accurate/realistic. The glider looks pretty ugly at the moment, but that’s just being it’s displaying the components going directly into the physical simulation. It’s loosely based on a Chris Foss Phase 6 glider – eg see www.youtube.com for a real one. The plan is to release this for Android in a couple of months, and then iOS a little later.
